Hear the World Foundation

Despite the fact that the numbers affected paint a very clear picture, hearing loss continues to be an underestimated topic: Approximately 15% of the world’s population has some degree of hearing loss. Around half these cases could be avoided by prevention. Approximately 660,000 children are born with significant hearing loss annually.

A key challenge: 80 percent of the people with hearing loss live in low-to-medium income countries and often have no access to audiological and medical care. Only one in forty people with hearing loss in developing countries wears a hearing aid.

Social Responsibility – A Serious Concern at the Sonova Group

Against this background Sonova founded the non-profit Hear the World Foundation in 2006. The Foundation’s aim is to create a world in which each person has the chance of good hearing. As leading hearing system provider, Sonova sees its social responsibility as the provision of support to needy people and particularly children with hearing loss and its involvement in prevention of hearing loss.

The Hear the World vision is a world in which

each person has the chance of good hearing

hearing is cherished and protected

wearing a hearing aid is no taboo

and people with reduced hearing experience equal opportunities

Alongside a long-term information campaign, which is directed at the general public as well as experts and opinion makers in the health care sector, the foundation work is the main element of the commitment. The Hear the World Foundation advocates equal opportunities and increased quality of life for people with hearing loss globally. To this end, the Foundation involves itself with financial resources and the provision of hearing aids. Alongside the financial and technological project support, employees of the Sonova Group form the third pillar of the foundation’s work with their voluntary involvement and expertise. Particularly promoted are those projects which support children with hearing loss, in order to allow them to develop in keeping with their age group.